A bit of background

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Welcome.

I thought it was about time I combined my two hobbies, writing and jogging. This blog will be a record of the ups and downs (literally and metaphorically) of my journey from this point on.

Why jogger?

Everyone refers to themselves as a runner these days but I prefer the term jogger. It's just more real, more earthy, more descriptive of my level. I won't be winning any races or challenging for best in age categories. I jog for two main reasons:
  • It makes me happy.
  • It makes me healthy.
There are many other benefits too; the freedom, the space to think, the friendships, the sense of achievement, the challenges, the self discipline, the list goes on.

I'm sure all of these will come out as I share my experiences. For me running is as much a spiritual activity as a physical one. In fact for me jogging is attractive because it impacts every area of my life.

Where I'm at.

At the moment I am running around 100 miles a month. This includes two regular group sessions each week.

On Saturday mornings I join with 150-250 others for a 5km Parkrun in my home town of Northampton. On Monday nights I attend Parklands Jog & Run (PJR) which involves one hour sessions ranging from hill work to interval training. When I can I also go to an OCR (Obstacle Course Training) session run by PJR.

Parkrun
This year I have set myself a challenge to run many different events including OCR, 5km, 10km, half marathons, marathon and ultra marathon distances. I'm aiming for a personal best (PB) in all of these. That is my competitive side coming out! 

Parklands Jog & Run
The most important goal this year however is to enjoy jogging and remain injury free.

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Cross Country Run

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The start of the adventure "Adam, come quickly!" I hear Matt shout with a sense of urgency. "We need your help" It's the end of our first day attempting the Coast to Coast Challenge, a 190 mile self-supported run across northern England. Just the two of us. I've just stopped to take a leak behind a boulder. What on Earth is he hollering about? And who is 'we'? Over the course of the last hour we have been descending the steep sides of an 800m high fell. A giant rock strewn wilderness with fast flowing becks and raging waterfalls that towers over Grasmere, the location of our accommodation for the night. Just another three miles to go before we can enjoy a well earned pie and a pint. It has been a tough day with two big climbs and 38 miles of running across the Lake District from St Bees Bay on the Irish Sea. Our 10 kilo backpacks are weighing us down and blisters are already forming on the soles of our feet from the stony trails. It has been a clear ...
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My knee throbbed. The pain emanated from the inside of my left leg and stretched upwards across the joint. Should I continue? Was I just making it worse? Could I run it off? With each step I winced and asked the question again. With each step the end came closer. But where would the end be? This was the biggest question of all. Twenty-six miles? Six miles? 600m? The New Year is not yet five hours old. Just twelve hours earlier I had completed a marathon. 26.2 miles across the south of London from Richmond upon Thames to my home in Lewisham. Now I was preparing to run another one. Back-to-back marathons over New Year. This had become a tradition. Book end the year with marathons. A tradition that was a year old. In other words, I did it last year, so now I have to do it every year. I wasn’t alone in this though. My equally obsessed running friend Matt Shimwell ran with me last year and is joining me again to welcome in 2025. Yesterday we had taken the train to Richmond on Thames a...
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